Method of finishing prints



Aug. 20, 1929. c M, BOYCE METHOD OF FINISHING PRINTS Original Filed May 28, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 2 i 2 h W I F a my Aug. 20, 1929. c BOYCE 1,725,699

METHOD OF FINISHING PRINTS Original Filed May 28, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 20, 1929.

- UNITED STATES 1,725,699 PATENT oFFlcEf- CHARLES H. BOYCE, 01 CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA, ASSIGNOR TO TRU-AR'I CORPORATION, 01 CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA, A CORPORATION OI IOWA.

METHOD OF FINISHING PRINTS.

Application filed May 28,

An object of this invention is to provide a method of finishing ink prints which are made by any one of a number of well known methods of printing so as to ive them bril- 5 liancy, depth of tone and surfaces of matte, semi-nfatte or gloss, such as is possessed by photographic rints.

This and ot er objects as will hereinafter appear are accomplished .by this invention,

which isfully described in the following specification and shown in the drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a treating and drying mechanism-for the paper as it emerges from the printing mechanism;

Fig. 2 is the sideelevation of an enameling drum which receivespaper from the drying frame of Fig. 1;

The embodiment illustrated comprises mechanism-for finishing prints which is particularly adapted to be used with the printing apparatus shown and described in my pending application Serial No. 320,783, of

which application Serial No. 351,432, filed March 30, 1929, was a division, and of which divisional application the present application is a continuation in part.

The continuous paper or other base strip E emerging from the printing mechanism feeds into the finishing mechanism shown herein where the imprinted base is coated and dried, as will later be described.

Fig. '1 shows the coating and drying mechanism, while Fig. 2 shows the enameling or finishing drum. The hereinafter described mechanism comprises a frame 5 to which is attached a drying frame or housing 6 of sheet metal, or the like, having a surface 7 over which the paper strip E passes. The

surface 7 is shown as curved to prevent the edges of the paper curlingvup as it/di'ies. gas burner or other heating element 8 is placed within the sheet metal housing 6, and

'the heating of the frame may be controlled by any suitable means such as for instance the valve X. i

The frame 5 carries a suitably heated pan No. 320,783 are preferably 0 thecontinuous HEISSUED tone type and such a machine is intended primarily for use with collo-type or swelledgelatin plates, but appropriate half-tone plates can also be used, also plates made by photogravure, transfer processes or photographing down processes and the like, and prints made by any of these processes may be surfaced and finished by the mechanism which is now being described.

The paper strip E which has previously been printed by any of the foregoing substantially continuous processes may passed up under the roller 10, over the roller 11, and down under the roller 12, which submerges the entire width of the paper strip in the coating solution in the pan 9. For this purpose the roller 12 is considerably narrower than the width of the paper strip E, the coating solution due to capillary attraction will permit this strip to be submerged some distance beneath its surface without overflowing upon the back thereof.

As' the paper strip E with its surface film emerges from the pan 9, it passes up over the roller 13 and slides around the back 7 of the drier G emerging at the bottom as a dried strip E which passes over a series of rollers and eventually reaches the enameling or finishing drum J, shown in Fig. 2. This is mounted upon a frame 14, and isdriven, 35 preferably by means of worms and worm wheels within the housings 15 and 16. The worm shaft 17 connects with a motor or other suitable source of power (not shown) It is obvious that the mechanisms just described should be operated at a speed corresponding to, that of the printing machine with which such mechanisms are coordinated. Ordinarily such printing machines, as are referred to herein, are run at a constant A speed. To reach the drum J, the sheet of coated and dried paper E passes under the roller 18, thence up over the roller 19, and down under the rollers 20 and 21. As the strip passes .under the latter rollers it is brought into contact with a surface of alcohol and Water or other suitable moistening medium which would put the coated surface of the paper in condition for enameling or finishing.

As the paper strip emerges from the bath of the moistening medium H it passes up over the roller 22, and over the roller 23, which latter forces the treated surface of the coating into intimate contact with the 110 cylindrical surface of the enameling drum J. A suitable distance is provided between the roller and the roller 21 to permit the liqaid in the bath H to sufiiciently permeate the coating on the paper so that when it is brought into contact with the highly polished surface of the drum J it will make intimate contact therewith, the roller 23 acting as a squeegee roller to force the treated surface mto erfect contact with the polished surface of t e drum.

For some purposes it is desired to rovide the strip of pa er with a backing o cloth, or the like. s iich a backing of gummed cloth K may be provided by taking it from the roll of.cloth 24 and passing it up over the roller 25, down under the roller 26 which dips the cloth into a bath of liquid 27 thence up over the roller 28 which forces it firmly against the back of the aper strip. The rollers 23 and 28 are provlded with adjustable means whereby the pressure applied thereon may be varied to suit conditions.

The enameling or finishing drum J revolves in a clockwise direction and the coating of the strip E which has been previously treated to make intimate contact with the surface of the drum, has time to thoroughly dryin expanded conditions by the time the drum revolves to carry the strip beneath the stripping roller 29. This roller 29 strips the paper strip off the face of the drum, after which the enameled and dried paper strip E passes up over the roller 30, and out between the rollers 31 and 32. From here the paper strip passes on to a trimm'er, or the ike With the apparatus just described any desired type of photographic finish on ink'imprinted sheet or web bases may be obtained, such as matte, semi-matte, or gloss, but it will be understood that my invention is notv limited to any one kind of print or finish but involves such a relation of appropriate paper, print, depth of coatin nature of coating com osition, and finis ing or any selection of t ese elements, so controlled and coordinated as to produce mechanical prints hardly distinguishable from true photographs.

It will be further understood that when inatte, semi-matte or like photographic finishes are desirable, the coating permeating step may be dispensed with as the depth or thickness of the layer of film-forming solution is primarily the determining factor. It is desirable, however, in most cases, as herein described, to have the coating slightly dam when passing onto'the drum J so that the fihal drying may be carefully controlled and the coatin dried in expanded condition. If desire the degree of heat may be so controlled within the housing 6 of the drier G as to leave the film on the strip E in a slightly moist condition when it leaves inmates the drier for final drying on the drum J as above explained. Or the drum J may be dispensed with and the heat so controlled in the housing 6 that the strip E emerges from the drier completely dried, ready for trimmmg and separating. It being understood that the nature and consistency of the coating material must be carefully controlled to produce the finish desired.

I e we may use soluble cellulose or the cellulose esters, in which I include the nitrocelluloses as well as the acetates, formates, and other esters, and of the nitrocelluloses, the mononitrocellulose in particular. However the truly desirable and workable formulae for the employment of this invention are as follows:

Formula for compound for cod-ting with gelatin.

Water ounces. A Gelatin (hard) 5 02.} Water20 ounces. Formaldehyde (about 37%) 2 oz. B Glycerine 7 ounces.-C

Water IOounces.

Methyl or ethyl alcohol 10 ounces.}

Add B to A very slowly, then add C, at

once, and then D, keeping the temperature at about 120 F.

Assuming the above formula is for coating for gloss finish and matte or semimatte is desired dilute with distilled water each other, which formaldehyde operates to produce a film of sufiicient hardness to prevent adherence of the film to the finishing drum; Now in order to employ such a percentage of formaldehyde as to produce the desired hardness of film, it has been found material to employ a suflicientlylargc percentage of glycerine or? suitable agent as to materially retard the action between-the formaldehyde and gelatin. This retarding action is sufiicient to cause the solution to remain uniform in consistency for a considerable period of time'whilc without the retarder the rate of change in consistency of the solution is so great as to prevent uniform coating.

Formula for solution for c'oatz'ng with soluble cotton. (p i rowylz'n) and gelatin miwiw'e.

more of H, being careful not to use too much. and the drying conditions being redeter- For semi-matte and matte, dilute to proper mined and controlled according to t e matte consistency with glacial acetic acid. or gloss finish desired.

The solution is used cold. The color'is The continuous process of producing translucent but becomes crystal clear when prints simulating photographs which ind cludes producing a substantially continuous The addition of the gelatin to the soluble tone 1nk impression upon a suitable contincotton is for the purpose of producing a uous strip base, coating the imprinted base gloss and the advantage secured through the Wlth a layer of"transparent colloidal filmuse of soluble cotton and gelatin is to proforming solution, the consistency of the filmvide rapid drying. It will be understood formlng solution being predetermined and that the percentage of gelatin added to secontrolled for gauging the thickness of film cure the degree of gloss wanted is relativeto produce any desired surfaces from matte ly small, as 'primarily the depth or thickness of film determines the resultant finlsh.

Formula for solution for coating with solwble cotton (pyrowylin) coating for matte and semi-matte.

Soluble cotton 1 ounce.

Amyl acetate 20 ounces.

-Methyl or ethyl alcohol 5 ounces.

Pure gum camphor ounce. F

Castor oil 1 ounce.

Add F to E and reduce to proper consistency with methyl or ethyl alcohol. Should the film absorb moisture while drying and a whitish blush appear on the print, substitute amyl acetate for a part of the alcohol.

From the foregoing it will be seen that" a very efiicient and effective means is provided for producing prints having the depth brilliancy and surface of contact photographic prints, and which so closely resemlole true photographs of the various kinds herein referred to as to defy identification. by anyone but an expert.

While I have shown and described but a single embodiment of myinvention, it is to be understood that it is capable of many modifications. Changes, therefore. in the construction and arrangement may be made 1 which do not depart from the spirit and scope of my invention as disclosed by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The continuous process of producing to gloss. V 4. The continuous process of producing prints simulating photographs which includes producing a substantially continuous tone ink impression upon a suitable web, coating the ink iinprinted web with a layer of transparent colloidal film-forming s0lution, the nature and consistency of the filmforming solution being predetermined and controlled according to the matte or gloss finish desired. p 5. The continuous process of producing prints simulating photographs which includes producing a substantially continuous tone ink impression upon a suitable Web,

coating the ink imprinted web With a layer of transparent colloidal film-forming solu tion, and drying the coated web, the nature and consistency of the film-forming solution, the amount used, and the drying conditions being predetermined and controlled 6. The continuous process of producing prints simulating photographs which in cludes producing a substantially continuous tone ink impression upon a suitable continuous strip base, coating the imprinted base with a layer of transparent colloidal filmforming solution, the consistency of the filmforming solution applied'to the base being predetermined and controlled for gauging the thickness of film to produce surfaces from matteto gloss, and drying the coated 7 according to the matte or glass finish desired. 190

base under predetermined and controlled conditions.

7. The continuous process of producing prints simulating photographs which includes producing a substantially continuous tone ink, impression upon a suitable web,

coating the ink imprinted web with a layer of transparent colloidal film-forming solution, the nature and consistency of the film forming solution applied to the imprinted base beingpredetermined and controlled according to the matte or gloss finish desired, and drying the coated imprinted base under controlled conditions determined by the na; ture and the consistency of the film-forming solution employed.

8. The continuous process of producing prints simulating photographs which includes imprinting a substantially continuous tone ink impression directly on a suit able continuous strip base, coating the impression with a layer of transparent colloidal film-forming solution rapidly drying the coating, swelling the dried coating and again drying it in contact with a finishing drum.

9. The continuous process of treating an imprinted base to produce prints simulating photographs, comprising subjecting the imprinted base to a coating process including the application of a transparent film formed from a combination including gelatin, formaldehyde and glycerine, and drying the coated base under controlled conditions determined by the nature and consistency of the coating composition.

10. The continuous process of treating an imprin-ted'base to produce prints simulating photographs, comprising subjecting the imprinted base to a coating process including the application of a film-forming solution containing gelatine, formaldehyde and glycerine in excess of that required for flexibility to retard action between the gelatine and formaldehyde.

11. The continuous rocess of treating an imprinted base to pro uce prints simulating photographs, comprising subjecting the imprinted base to a coating process-including the application of a film-forming solution contaming gelatine formaldehyde and glycerine in such proportion as to retard action between the formaldehyde and gelatine at the particular concentration of .solution used. 1

12. The continuous process of producing nuances prints simulating hotographs with any desired surface finis ranging from matte to gloss, comprising coating an ink imprinted web with a layer of transparent colloidal film-forming solution'of such a nature and thickness as to produce any desired 'finish ranging from matte to gloss according to the thickness of the layer.

13. The continuous process of producing prints simulating photographs with any desired surface finish ranging from matte to gloss which includes producing a substantially continuous tone ink impression upon asuitable web, coating the imprinted web with a layer of transparent colloidal filmforming solution of such a nature and thickness as to produce any desired finish ranging from matte to gloss according to the thickness of the layer.

14. The continuous process of producing prints simulating photographs with any desired surface fimsh ranging from matte to gloss which includes producing a substantially continuous tone ink impression upon a suitable web, coating the imprinted web with a layer of transparent colloidal filmforming solution of such a nature and thickness as to produce any desired finish ranging from matte to gloss according to the thickness of the layer, and drying the coated web under; predetermined and controlled conditions.

15; The article produced by the process covered in claim 1 In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

CHARLES M. BoYon- 

